Maruti Suzuki Passes SBI As Sixth Most Valuable Indian Company

Maruti Suzuki is India's largest car maker and the company soared to newer heights with back-to-back hit products. Shares of Maruti Suzuki jumped by 2.11 per cent on Friday, to an all-time high of Rs. 9072 per unit. This made the automaker, the sixth most valued company on the BSE, passing the State Bank of India (SBI). The BSE's list of most valued companies include Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, ITC Limited and Hindustan Unilver. The jump has been attributed to the company's rapid increase in market share in the passenger vehicle segment.

A Livemint report quotes Mumbai-based brokerage firm LKP Securities, Sector Analyist, Ashwin Patil saying, "Maruti Suzuki has guided for a volume growth of 10-12% in FY18 and 12-14% in FY19. Hence, most of the brokerages have a bullish view on the stock. Also on the margin front, there is further room for improvement and the realization per unit of the company has also been improving."

"The November wholesale numbers have also been good. So, this has all contributed to the growth in the stock price. We have a target price of Rs10,000 for stock by FY19," he added.

Maruti shares have risen 73% in the last one year and this has been due to a slew of sucessful products in the last couple of years including the Baleno, Vitara Brezza, Ciaz and the newly launched Dzire subcompact sedan. Maruti Suuzki currently commands over 50 per cent of the market share in the passenger vehicle segment with more than three million cars sold every year.

The Indian auto giant's market capitalization on Friday stood at Rs. 2.74 trillion, ahead of SBI's Rs. 2.71 trillion. In contrast, the other Indian automaker Tata Motors' market capitalization stood at Rs. 1.18 trillion on December 8.